What Storytellers Can Do In Real Time

Yesterday, I went to the Panasonic press conference at CES09. (Reminder: I’m here as Panasonic’s guest). It was fun, as I don’t often go to to press conferences, and rarely to ones as large as that run by Panasonic. It was a really tight presentation, with over a half dozen speakers from different parts of the organization.

The press event was mobbed with people anxious to cover the news. I saw two guys from Engadget, and of course Steve Garfield was there, and all kinds of mainstream press, too. I was a bit claustrophobic, so I hid out way in the back with all the big cameras and machinery.

What excited me was this: I live-tweeted the press conference while the folks around me wrote their notes into paper note pads for stories they’d write later. Here were a few of the tweets:

There was lots of news from the event. I’m sure it was covered very well by people like Engadget. What I liked, however, was that we, the bloggers, had the scoop on the mainstream press by who knows how long, and further (and this is the super cool part to me), I really loved that I had conversation coming back to me almost immediately about what I was posting. Example:

okhumane- @chrisbrogan I personally have a Lumix and LOVE it. Highly recommend. And we take pics of all our shelter animals with a Lumix!

catttaylor- @chrisbrogan keep up the updates. Bought my DH a Panasonic plasma TV for our anniversary. Camcorder would be nice.

mindofchester- @chrisbrogan James Cameron always wanted to do 3d and was willing to wait till the technology was perfect. Panasonic must be to something.

So, not only had we scooped them, but we already had conversations started, too. That, friends, is astounding and potent. I spoke later in the night to Panasonic CMO Bob Greenberg, and was really into the overall experience of “the conversation” and what that meant to the company. At a little dinner, he talked about what bringing bloggers into the story meant for him. (I’ll cover that in another post.)

My question is this: how have (or how can) you use social media tools in real time to capture the stories around us, in whatever form you want? Have you used video to catch something faster than other people? Have you snapped something with your cameraphone that was meaningful to you or a community, but wasn’t big enough for the evening news?

Journalists: do you see how live-tweeting a press conference might get the story into some kind of live action play faster that way?

Complete side note: look at the picture. That’s the “press kit” we got from Panasonic. As part of their commitment to green improvements, it’s just a card with a URL to download digital copies of the kit (and there were HUNDREDS of people crammed in that room- saving paper). But what’s really REALLY cool is that the card has flower seeds in it, and if you plant the card in the ground and water it, it’ll grow wildflowers. Nice touch.

Chris Brogan

CEO of Owner Media Group

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